Access control is required for secure communication in most prior art wireless radio communication systems. As an example, one simple access control scheme might comprise: (i) verifying the identity of a communicating party, and (ii) granting a level of access commensurate with the verified identity. Within the context of an exemplary Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) cellular system, access control is governed by an access control client, typically referred to as a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) which is embodied within a physical card form factor Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC). During operation, the USIM contained within the UICC authenticates the subscriber to the cellular network. After successful authentication, the subscriber is allowed access to the cellular network.
Each USIM card is associated with a single user account, where the user account data is permanently stored on the SIM card. The user account data is also stored on the network side of a cellular system. Occasionally, errors can occur where the user account data stored on the UICC does not match the user account data stored on the carrier's backend billing or other information storage system. In these instances, the SIM data located on the user's mobile device will be unable to authenticate itself to the cellular network. These errors can occur for any number of reasons, but typically result from a data entry error (a so-called “fumble fingers” error) by the network operator, such as upon establishing the user's initial subscription or account.
For example, anecdotal data suggests that point-of-sale agents occasionally mistype subscriber data while initializing a new subscriber (e.g., subscriber information, card information, billing information, etc.). These types of mistakes can manifest in a myriad of different ways; however, the most convenient remedy is typically to issue the user a replacement USIM from the network operator.
More recently, the physical Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) of the prior art has been replaced with an access client that is emulated as a virtual or electronic entity, hereafter referred to as an Electronic Universal Integrated Circuit Card (eUICC). The eUICC is contained within a secure element (e.g., secure microprocessor or storage device) in the UE. The eUICC is capable of storing and managing one or more SIM elements, referred hereafter as Electronic Subscriber Identity Module(s) (eSIM). Each eSIM contains the same data of a typical USIM. The eUICC selects an eSIM based upon the eSIM ICC-ID. Once the eUICC selects the desired eSIM, the user device (e.g., UE) can initiate an authentication procedure to obtain wireless network services from the eSIM's corresponding network operator.
The use of eSIMs presents a unique problem to network operators. In the past, the use of physical SIM cards provided some level of tangible feedback (the agent can appreciate the limited inventory of the physical SIM card) to both users and network operators. When error events occurred, or a new USIM was otherwise needed, a new physical SIM card had to be provisioned. Such provisioning of a customer with a new physical SIM card consumed card from a limited sales inventory, thereby encouraging agents of the network operator to use care when adding new subscribers (lest they have to repeat their efforts, incur the cost of sending the new SIM to the user, etc.).
While eSIM's are no longer embodied in a physical form, they still occupy network operator resources when provisioned. Unfortunately, the virtualized eSIM no longer provides the tangible feedback to a user or an employee of a network provider that a physical SIM card otherwise would. Therefore, improved methods and apparatus are required for providing feedback to electronic identity provisioning so that resources are not unintentionally (or intentionally) wasted. Ideally, such solutions would be transparent or otherwise minimally intrusive to a user, thereby maximizing the user's experience with electronic identity provisioning.